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Show By ROSELYN KIRK Three bills before the Utah State Legislature will have impact on Davis County Schools. The school equalization equaliza-tion bill, Senate Bill 116, if passed, would take over one million dollars away from Davis County Schools. That money is now provided by the federal government through Public Law 874 - Federal Impacted Aid Funds. THE OTHER two bills, House Bill 229 and House Bill 232 would regulate school financing and class size. Both House bills are sponsored by Rep. David Irvine, who heads the House Education Committee Com-mittee and serves with Senator Sena-tor Haven Barlow on the Education Appropriations Committee. Superintendent Bernell Wrigley said, the school equalization bill would hurt Davis County since the county receives over 3 million dollars a year from impacted aid. Nearly 40 per cent of the students in Davis County have parents who work for federal, installations. THE PURPOSE of the Public Impact Law is to provide federal money to school districts in lieu of property taxes. Since the federal government does not pay property taxes on federal installations such as HilT Field, they equalize this tax: burden by providing the dis- trict with $75 per student per year. At present Davis District receives two million dollars in impacted aid money. The school equalization bill would"" allocate the impact money among all school districts in' the state, leaving Davis County without the money needed to run their schools. SUPERINTENDENT Wrigley reported to the Davis School Board that if this bill passes and the impact money is lost, it would require an emergency mill levy of 4 mills. Rep. Irvine said the passage of the proposal would be "devastating to Davis County since it would cause Davis County taxes to increase. He said the bill is "a real threat to Davis Schools and the passage pas-sage is a political maneuver." SUPERINTENDENT Wrigley told the Board that the bill has presently been . tabled in the Public Education Educa-tion Committee of the Senate. Senator Haven Barlow is a member of that committee. Superintendent Wrigley is hopeful the bill can be kept in committee and not reach the senate floor for a vote. He says that the bill may hold the line in committee since both Salt Lake and Granite Districts Dis-tricts have indicated to him that they oppose the bill. HOUSE BILL 229 if passed, would provide additional money to Davis School District Dis-trict by increasing state supported sup-ported leeway funds from $4 to $13 per pupil for each of the first three mills levied by the district. If this bill were passed, voters in Davis County could approve an additional mill levy of up to 10 mills. Rep. Irvine said he thinks "state supported leeway funds will pass as a part of the school finance bill." IF THE bill passes, the Davis School Board could then take the initiative for holding a voted leeway. A ' Dee Burmngham, Executive Execu-tive Secretary for the Davis Education Association, (DEA) says about 80 per cent of the school districts along the Wasatch Front have passed voted leeways of 3 to 9 mills to raise additional revenue for the schools. IF HOUSE Bill 229 passes as anticipated, the additional state money would only be available to Davis County if the school board calls for and Davis County citizens vote to approve the additional mill levy. School Class size in grades one through three would be limited in Davis School Districts Dis-tricts if House Bill 232 passes. REP. IRVINE, sponsor of the bill, says it would make $5,000 available to reduce the class sizes in kindergarten through third grade. Rep. Irvine Ir-vine says he "believes the bill will go some place." rk js |